The team at Sandfields Pumping Station in Lichfield are preparing to take part in World Water Day which is an annual event led by the United Nations, highlighting the importance of fresh water.
Sandfields will be celebrating this event on Saturday 18th March 2023 and plan to have water-related activities for children and adults, as well as showcasing Sandfields Pumping Station itself which was part of the scheme to provide fresh water to the Black Country in the 19th century.
Elise Turner, the Activities and Events Officer at Brampton Museum writes to say…
We would like to invite members of Betley Local History Society to the first in a series of fascinating local history talks at Brampton Museum. On Thursday 26 January at 2pm we are launching our Fascinating Folk of Newcastle talk and film show series, marking the Borough’s 850th anniversary.
Each month we will host a different local speaker shining a light on the varied lives of Newcastle residents, from famous faces like Vera Brittain and James Brindley to lesser known figures like Newcastle’s first policeman, Isaac Cottril.
All the talks will be held in the museum’s new event space next to its café, both of which opened to the public in 2022. You can find full details of all the speakers and events at https://www.newcastle-staffs.gov.uk/850 .
Please join us for our first event on 26 January 2023. Kath Reynolds will be taking us on a whistle stop tour of some of the fascinating folk we’ll be covering this year as well as some famous folk from the wider Staffordshire area.
Tickets can be booked for £5 online or visitors can pay cash on the day.
…from all of us here at the Betley Local History Society.
An interesting article from a recent Staffordshire Archives & Heritage Newsletter:
The public website, Material Bodies, Social Bodies, makes accessible many hundreds of letters written by British men, women and children between 1680-1820. The letters were exchanged amongst family, friends and acquaintance and contain a wealth of information about everyday personal life, though also discuss work, politics and public life. Due to rates of literacy, the wealth, time and education required to write letters, and the factors that determine the survival of historical documents, the letters are overwhelmingly from the middle ranks of society and above. The letters have been selected to reflect different regions of Britain, as well as religious denominations (overwhelming Protestant but including some Catholic and Jewish letters), and to reflect an equal number of male and female letter writers.
The letters were collected as part of a research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust and supported by the University of Birmingham. That project explores the experiences and ideas about the body, and this is a particular focus of many of the letters included. However, the content of these letters extends into many other areas.
Staffordshire Archives & Heritage write to let us know that…
The City Central Library building in Hanley has been sold by the City Council and Stoke on Trent City Archives is moving to a new home at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery just next door. This will bring together the City’s Archive and Museum collections under one roof for the first time. The move, also for the first time, brings together all our collections (archives, local studies and potteries library) in one purpose-built strongroom.
In preparation for the move all our collections need to be carefully packaged by the Archives staff and volunteers. This is a huge task and with regret we will have to reduce our on-site services temporarily. From the week beginning 5 December we will be open to the public on Fridays only, from 9.30 until 4pm. This will reduce further from the week beginning 9 January from which time we will only be open for urgent legal enquiries that cannot be resolved with photocopying.
We are very conscious that due to the pandemic and then reduced staffing levels you have already had a period of reduced access. We very much regret limiting services again but we hope you will bear with us during this challenging but exciting time for the City Archives. You can follow all the stages of the move on our Stoke on Trent City Archives is moving website at: www.stokearchivesismoving.uk
The new reading room in the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery is due to open later in 2023. At that point we very much look forward to welcoming you to our new home. Throughout this period, apart from a short period around the dates of the moves, we will continue our remote services; answering enquiries and providing copying services. During this period you will still be able to use FindMyPast and Ancestry.com in Stoke-on-Trent City Libraries. Keele University Special Collections and Archives has a very good local studies collection and access to some newspapers. Staffordshire Libraries (including Newcastle under Lyme) offer free access to British Newspaper Archive online.
In due course, we will host a meeting at the City Archives so stakeholders can see the plans and ask any questions. If you would be interested in attending, please contact stoke.archives@stoke.gov.uk
Saturday 1 October, Oddfellows Hall, Stafford
10am - 3.30pm
Join Staffordshire Archives & Heritage Service & Liverpool University for this free event to discover the impact of weather on the lives of Staffordshire people. The day will include speakers from the projects together with Staffordshire Poet Laureate Mel Wardle-Woodend and storyteller Maria Whatton who have worked with groups across the county to explore stories and responses to our changing weather. There will also be an exhibition of archive documents and of work produced as part of the projects.
…at the Madeley Centre, New Road, Madeley, CW3 9DN
This well-established study group welcomes new members. Each year, they follow a theme and look at texts in the original Old English (the version of English used up to about 1175, after which it began the slow change into Middle English). For the year 2022-23, they will be looking at extracts from: Herbals, leechdoms, and laws.
They meet for ten Sunday mornings: 18 September 2022; 23 October; 20 November; 11 December; 8 January 2023; 12 February; 12 March; 16 April; 14 May; 11 June. Each meeting lasts from 10:30 until 12:30. There is a cafe at the Madeley Centre, which opens at 10am. The cost of the course will be £5 per meeting.
If you are interested in joining them, please contact the tutor, Peter Graystone M.A. plgraystone@btinternet.com (01782) 611083
John Evans writes…
“I’m writing to local history societies to make them aware of my new online-only free history magazine which reports the news from two centuries ago as if it was happening now. This launched in June, and the third edition is just out, and I hope it may be of interest to your members. I’m pleased to say it’s had a great response so far from readers”.
200 makes use of contemporary newspapers, magazines, diaries and images from the 1820s. The front section of the magazine contains news coverage from (currently) 1822, and the back pages link those events and news stories to the present day, highlighting visitor attractions of today, websites, books, magazines, organisations, and TV/film/radio output, and potentially the activities of local history groups.
John adds, “I hope this journalism-meets-history venture will be of general interest, to people specifically interested in local history, and to those teaching or being taught history at school and in universities and colleges”.
Gresham College write to tell us about their public lecture offering over the coming Autumn and Winter months.
These events are all free to attend or to watch on line - surely there’s something for everyone in here somewhere…
September
Weds 14, 6pm Progresses: Royal Courts on the Move in Tudor and Stuart England Professor Simon Thurley; David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/royal-progresses
Weds 21, 6pm, Gods of Prehistoric Britain Professor Ronald Hutton, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/prehistoric-gods
Tues 27, 6pm, War and Peace in Europe from Hitler to Putin Professor Richard J Evans, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/hitler-putin
October
Thurs 6, 6pm, Tuberculosis: A Cultural History Professor Joanna Bourke, Barnard's Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/tb-history
Weds 12, 6pm, The Lost Cities and Amazing Heritage of Kenya, Robin Walker, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/kenya-cities
Mon 17, 6pm, Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution, Sudhir Hazareesingh, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/toussaint-louverture
Tues 18, 6pm Britain's Foreign Policy in a Fast-Changing World, Peter Ricketts, Mercers' Hall/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/britains-fp
Thurs 20, 6pm The Politics of Fabric and Fashion in Africa 1960-Today Christine Checinska David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later, gres.hm/africa-fashion
November
Tues 1, 6pm, Partition of British India, 75 Years On Kavita Puri, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/india-partition
Mon 7, 6pm The Trials of Alexei Navalny Thomas Grant QC Barnard's Inn Hall, Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/navalny-trials
Tues 8, 6pm, Why did Europe's Economies Diverge from Asia? Professor Martin Daunton, Barnard's Inn Hall, Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/diverge-asia
Thurs 10, 6pm, Polio: A Cultural History, Professor Joanna Bourke Barnards' Inn Hall, Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/polio-history
Weds 16, 6pm The Irish Question and the Ulster Question Then and Now, Professor Vernon Bogdanor David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/irish-ulster
Weds 23, 6pm Lives in Limbo: Jewish Refugess in Portugal, 1940-45 Professor Marion Kaplan, Barnard's Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/refugees-portugal
December
Mon 5, 6pm London's Air: The 70th Anniversary of the Great London Smog Visiting Professor Ian Mudway, Barnard's Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch later gres.hm/londons-air (this is an Environmental Health Professor, not strictly History, but should be of interest to local societies)
Tues 6, 1pm, The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding by Professor Jolyon Mitchell, Barnard's Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch later gres.hm/israel-palestine
Weds 7, 6pm, Paganism in Roman Britain, Professor Ronald Hutton, David Game College/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/paganism-roman
BY SERIES
Finding Britain's Lost Gods (History of Religion)
Professor Ronald Hutton
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/lost-gods
This is the first series of three sets of lectures devoted to the perennial ‘others’ of the European Christian tradition, those phenomena which have always been present as active forces or cultural memories in Christian Europe and which theological orthodoxy has regarded as suspect. The first of the phenomena consists of the pre-Christian religions of Europe, defined in Christian tradition as paganism. These were suppressed as religious systems at the time of conversion to Christianity but elements of them survived as major components of literature, art and folklore.
6pm, Weds 21 Sep 2022, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/prehistoric-gods
6pm, Weds 7 Dec 2022, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/paganism-roman
6pm, Weds 1 Feb 2022, City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/anglo-saxon-gods
6pm, Weds 8 Mar 2022, City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/viking-gods
6pm, Weds 26 April 2023, City of London Venue tbc / Online/ Watch Later
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/wales-gods
How Pagan Was Medieval Britain
6pm, Weds 7 June 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/medieval-pagan
Britain's Empire and the Economy (Economic History)
Professor Martin Daunton
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/britains-empire
This lecture series by Economic Historian Martin Daunton considers the role of the empire in the growth and development of the British economy. Why did Asia, with levels of income that were similar or even superior to Europe, diverge from Europe from the end of the Middle Ages and even more from 1800? Did Britain drain wealth from India and impoverish its economy, as argued by nationalist critics? To what extent did Atlantic slavery and plantations underpin the industrial revolution?
Why did Europe's Economies Diverge from Asia
6pm, Tues 8 Nov 2022, Barnard's Inn Hall London/ Online
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/diverge-asia
Slavery and the British Economy
6pm, Tues 7 Feb 2022, City of London Venue to be confirmed (tbc)
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/slavery-british
Who Benefited from the British Empire
6pm, Tues 4 April 2022, City of London Venue tbc
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/benefit-empire
Robin Walker, Dr Sudhir Hazareesingh, Dr Christine Checinska
In 2022-3 the series will cover African fashion since Independence; the lost cities and civilisations of Kenya; and Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian revolution.
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/black-history-month
The Lost Cities and Amazing Heritage of Kenya, Robin Walker
6pm, Weds 12 Oct 2022, David Game College, Aldgate,/ Online/ Watch Later
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/kenya-cities
Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution, Sudhir Hazareesingh
6pm, Mon 17 Oct 2022, David Game College, Aldgate,/ Online/ Watch Later
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/toussaint-louverture
The Politics of Fabric and Fashion in Africa 1960-Today, Dr Christine Checinska
6pm, Thurs 20 Oct 2022, David Game College, Aldgate,/ Online/ Watch Later
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/africa-fashion
A Cultural History of Disease (Medical History)Professor Joanna Bourke
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/cultural-disease
Acclaimed cultural historian Professor Joanna Bourke will be exploring six physical maladies that have afflicted people throughout the world: tuberculosis, polio, breast cancer, AIDS, sickle cell disease, and dementia.Lectures are free, hybrid (in the City of London or online) and can be viewed later. They are all ticketed.
Tuberculosis: A Cultural History
6pm, Thurs 6 Oct 2022, Barnard's Inn Hall London/ Online
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/tb-history
Polio: A Cultural History 6pm Thurs 10 Nov 2022, Barnard's Inn Hall London/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/polio-history
Breast Cancer: A Cultural History 6pm Thurs 12 Jan 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/breast-history
AIDS: A Cultural History 6pm, Thurs 16 Feb 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/aids-history
Sickle Cell Disease: A Cultural History 6pm, Thurs 16 Mar 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/sickle-cell-history
Dementia: A Cultural History 6pm, Thurs 11 May 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/dementia-history
More History of Medicine:
The History of Barts' Hospital: Barts at 900, Charles Knight6pm, Thurs 4 May 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/barts-900
Ancient Landscapes of Britain (Archaeology) Mike Pitts, Martin Millett and Helena Hamerow Three of Britain's leading Archaeologists present the latest research on Stonehenge, the landscapes of Roman Britain, and the medieval Agricultural Revolution.https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/ancient-britain
Stonehenge: A History Mike Pitts 6pm, Thurs 23 Feb 2023 City of London Venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/stonehenge-history
Landscapes of Roman Britain Martin Millett 6pm, Weds 15 Mar 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/roman-landscapes
The Medieval Agricultural Revolution: New Evidence Helena Hamerow 6pm, Thurs 23 Mar 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/agricultural-rev
Portraiture and Power (Art History)In this series, leading art historians will discuss some of the world’s greatest patrons of the arts, and the challenges of depicting them, from Louis XIV and Versailles, to images of Queen Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth II. There is also a lecture on portraits of Native American leaders from Pocahontas to Sitting Bull.https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/portrait-power
Louis XIV: Versailles, Europe and the Arts Philip Mansel 6pm, Weds 25 Jan 2023 City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/versailles-arts
Queen Victoria: Images of Power and EmpireJane Ridley 6pm, Weds 15 Feb 2023 City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Laterhttps://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/victoria-portraits
Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II: The Artist's Challenges Philip Mould 6pm, Thurs 2 Mar 2023 City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/victoria-portraits
Portraits of Native Americans from Pocahontas to Sitting Bull
Stephanie Pratt 6pm, Tues 28 Mar 2023 City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/american-portraits
Sir Christopher Wren is probably the most famous Gresham Professor in history: a polymath, architect, mathematician, astronomer, anatomist and courtier. On the 300th anniversary of his death, this series will explore different aspects of his work.
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/wren-300
Christopher Wren's Cosmos Professor Katherine Blundell 6pm, Weds 22 Feb 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/wren-cosmos
The Mathematical Life of Sir Christopher Wren Professor Sarah Hart 1pm, Tues 7 Mar 2023 City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/maths-wren
Christopher Wren's Medical DIsoveries: The 'Architect of Human Anatomy' Professor Jaideep Pandit6pm, Weds 17 May 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/wren-medical
Sir Christopher Wren: Architect & Courtier Visiting Professor & Provost Simon Thurley 6pm, Weds 14 June 2023, City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/wren-courtier
More on Architecture & The Court from Simon Thurley
Progresses: Royal Courts on the Move in Tudor and Stuart England Visiting Professor & Provost Simon Thurley 6pm, Weds 14 June 2023 City of London Venue tbc/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/royal-progresses
Holocaust History
Lives in Limbo: Jewish Refugees in Portugal 1940-1945 Professor Marion Kaplan6pm, Weds 23 Nov 2022, Barnard's Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/refugees-portugal
Politics, Power and Nationhood This series on Power, Politics and Nationhood has a stellar cast of speakers including Kavita Puri, Vernon Bogdanor, Richard J Evans, Rory Stewart and Peter Ricketts, and it covers a wide range of topics from the Partition of British India to the Israel-Palestine Conflict and War and Peace in Europe from Hitler to Putin. Visiting Professor Thomas Grant QC will look at Opposition in Russia: The Trials of Alexei Navalny. https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/power-politics
War and Peace in Europe from Hitler to Putin Professor Richard J Evans 6pm, Tues 27 Sep 2022, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/hitler-putin
Britain's Foreign Policy in a Fast-Changing World Peter Ricketts 6pm, Tues 18 Oct 2022 Mercers' Hall/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/britains-fp
Partition of British India: 75 Years On Kavita Puri 6pm, Tues 1 Nov 2022, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/india-partition
Opposition in Russia: The Trials of Alexei Navalny Thomas Grant 6pm, Mon 7 Nov 2022, Barnard's Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/navalny-trials
The Irish Question and the Ulster Question Then and Now Vernon Bogdanor 6pm, Weds 16 Nov 2022 David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/irish-ulster
The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding Jolyon Mitchell 1pm Tues 6 Dec 2022, Barnard's Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch Later https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/israel-palestine
Afghanistan Rory StewartCity of London venue tbc/ Online 6pm, Thurs 8 June 2023 https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/thomas-gresham-23
Women in World Religions
In this series, three historians will discuss: Reclaiming Women in the Hebrew Bible, Women Leaders in Early Christianity and Women, Islam and Prophecy.
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/women-religions
Women Leaders in Early Christianity Morwenna Ludlow1pm, Weds 5 April 2023 City of London venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/women-christianity
Reclaiming Women in the Hebrew Bible Deborah Kahn-Harris 1pm, Tues 25 April 2023City of London venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/women-hebrew-bible
Women, Islam & Prophecy Shuruq Naguib1pm, Tues 9 May 2023 City of London venue tbc/ Online https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/women-islam
Staffordshire Library & Information Service write to tell us that local historian Richard Talbot will be launching his new book ‘That’s Entertainment’ at Newcastle Library as part of the Staffordshire History Festival.
The dates are as follows:
29th Sept 10am – FREE book talk
30th Sept and 1st Oct 11am-3pm – book launch
Richard describes his book as follows: “That’s entertainment is not a history of the building, but rather a complete package of 18th and 19th centuries of social and cultural life in the town. This talk is ideal for students of theatre history and local residents to expand their understanding of both theatre development and how it enriched the people’s lives in Newcastle”
The book will be available to buy at any of the events above.
Beacon Business Park, Weston Road, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST18 0WL
Come along and see behind the scenes of the stored museum collections. Meet the experts, try out hands-on activities and view the fascinating stored collections of Staffordshire social history, costume, art and rural life.
This is a self guided visit but staff and volunteers will be on hand to highlight the treasures, direct you around the site and answer any questions. As it is a working site, please note that you should not bring any food or drink, large bags or wet umbrellas inside the stores to help protect the collections.
The upper floor are only accessible via steps. Toilets are available on request and staff can direct you. It is a short walk between the two stores.
Free parking is available on site.
Saturday 17 September: Entry slots 10.30 to 11.30, 11.30 to 12.30, 1.30 to 2.30 or 2.30 to 3.30
Pre-booking: Required
Go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heritage-open-days-museum-store-open-day-tickets-396584443747
Booking closes: 12 September 2022 10:30
The ground floors have level step free access. Parking is available close to the entrance. An accessible toilet is available. There are no lifts on site but staff are happy to discuss the contents of the mezzanine levels which are accessed via steps.
This event will run in line with local & national government guidelines at the time.
A timed entry slot must be pre-booked and arrival instructions will be sent out before the event.
Contact for the day: Sarah English 07971 946900
Staffordshire Archives & Heritage write to let us know that the first Staffordshire History Network e-newsletter was published last week. You can read the newsletter here.
If you’d like to receive a personal copy then please visit the Staffordshire County Council website to set up an account/sign in. Then, go to Subscription Topics – Leisure and Culture and select Staffordshire History Network News.
CPRE Staffordshire write to tell us about a talk in Penkridge on Staffordshire Place Names and the Rural Environment by Professor John Baker of the University of Nottingham on Thursday 22 September.
John's research has a particular focus on place-names and their potential as tools for understanding past landscapes and medieval society and culture. He will be the guest speaker at the 2022 AGM of CPRE Staffordshire, the countryside charity..
There’s more information on the CPRE Staffordshire website here - book through Eventbrite.
Cheshire Archives & Local Studies write to tell us about the following event…
Have you ever wanted to know more about your family’s past? Or maybe fancied finding out who lived in your house before you did? Perhaps you wanted to know what Crewe looked like 100 years ago?
‘Crewe Do You Think You Are’, running on Tuesday 9 August, between 11am and 3pm, at Crewe Library, is your chance to dig into the past! At this drop-in event staff from Cheshire Archives and Local Studies and Crewe Library will be on hand to help you find out what you want to know. The Family History Society of Cheshire Crewe group will also be in attendance.
The latest edition of the BLHS Newsletter is out - available in the member’s area of the website.
This one, written by Mavis Smith, is about Penelope Tollet’s donation to the Betley National Schools and the letters to the Nightingales.
If you’re not a member, and you’d like to read it, together with all of the Society’s past newsletters and numerous past copies of Betley Parish News, click on the PayPal button at the bottom of the front page and become a member. Your support would be greatly appreciated.
Working on the railways 100 years ago was incredibly dangerous, with hundreds killed and tens of thousands injured each year. Portsmouth University’s ‘Railway Work, Life & Death’ project is an important new resource for anyone researching railway history, family history, labour history and allied topics.
The Railway, Work, Life & Death project can be found here.
It now contains a downloadable/searchable database of railway worker accidents in Britain and Ireland from the later 19th century until the Second World War. There are over 4,500 records available, and the plan is to go back to the 1880s and include an additional 60,000 records in due course.
Unfortunately, the scheduled talk by Phil Coops next week (Thu. 21st July) has had to be postponed because of illness.
Instead of this, we're very grateful to Mavis Smith who has agreed to talk on 'The Connection between the Tollet's and the Family of Florence Nightingale'
All welcome.
The latest newsletter is out - in this one, the recently retired Chair of BLHS, Mavis Smith, reflects on whether “The Past is a Foreign Country.”
Hop over to the BLHS Newsletters page and click through.
The Staffordshire History Day is an annual event which brings together historians, researchers, local history societies and members of the public, together with partners at Keele University and the Midlands History Centre at the University of Birmingham, to explore and discover the stories of the people and places of Staffordshire.
On Saturday 7 May, Staffordshire Archives and Heritage Service take the History Day online for the first time to celebrate the history of Staffordshire together with the new Staffordshire History Centre project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Speakers include Dr Simon Briercliffe of the Black Country Living Museum, Dr. John Grayson, Craft Maker and Senior Lecturer in Design at Staffordshire University, Dr. Andrew Sargent, Keele University and Dr Malcolm Dick, Birmingham University.
To book your free place please go to:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/staffordshire-history-day-tickets-313666824917
The event will take place on Zoom. The online link for the History Day will be sent to all attendees the week before the event.
10.00 Welcome and celebration of the Staffordshire History Centre Project - Joanna Terry, Head of Archives and Heritage
10.30 Research Paper: To put all to hazard: Motivations of Gentry Participants at the Battle of Blore Heath - Mark Hinsley, Keele University
10.45 Research Paper: A Moral Weapon: Recreational Reform and Wednesbury Town Hall Organ - Mie Berg, Midlands History Centre, Birmingham University
11.00 Questions
11.15 Break
11.30 Keynote: Forging Ahead – Dr Malcolm Dick in Conversation with Dr Simon Briercliffe
12.15 Victoria County History News - Dr Andrew Sargent, Keele University
12:30 County Archaeology News - Shane Kelleher MCIfA, County Archaeologist
12:45 Lunch
13.45 Welcome back - Joanna Terry, Head of Archives and Heritage
13.50 Keynote: A Case for the Ordinary: Staffordshire Asylums and the patient experience - Lucy Smith, PhD Researcher, Keele University
14.30 Keynote: Staffordshire Enamels: People, Place and Production - Dr John Grayson, Staffordshire University
15.15 Plenary
15.30 Close
The latest BLHS newsletter is out. This one is entitled ‘The Court Garden and the Last Squire of Betley’ and is written by Sue Hurrell. Click through using the ‘Newsletters’ tab to find the link.
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